FORMER Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou is currently in China for talks.
He visited the Sun Yat-sen Mausoleum on Tuesday morning in Nanjing together with his delegation.
Ma is also the former chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) Party.
He and his delegation paid respects to Dr. Sun Yat-sen, founder of the KMT party, and is known for his role in the 1911 Revolution.
Ma, Taiwan’s president from 2008 to 2016, is the first former or current Taiwanese president to visit China since the Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 at the end of a civil war.
Ma met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Singapore in 2015, shortly after current Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen won the polls.
Ma is known to favor close ties with China but strongly denies that he is pro-Beijing.
A memorial ceremony was held in the mausoleum, where ma presented a floral basket to the statue of Dr. Sun.
A eulogy extolling his great contributions and high morality.
The eulogy noted that the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to same China and that both should work together to revitalize the nation, create the future and seek common development.
The eulogy also called for the upholding of the 1992 consensus.
The former Taiwanese president also wrote an inscription meaning “peace, endeavor, revitalizing China” in commemoration.
And at a meeting with the media, Ma said people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to the Chinese nation and are Chinese descendants.
He sincerely hopes that both sides will work together to pursue peace, avoid war and revitalize the Chinese nation.
Ma believes this is an unavoidable responsibility of the Chinese people on both sides of the strait, and they must work hard to realize it.
The former Taiwanese president also hopes that Taiwanese youth can have an in-depth understanding of the life of Dr. Sun and the cross-strait relations, and realize that peace and hard work of the two sides is the only way to revitalize China.
Meanwhile, there are no reports stating that Ma is scheduled to meet any senior Chinese officials during his visit, but the head of his foundation earlier said that he will be at his host’s disposal of officials to arrange a meeting.
Before going to China, Ma received criticisms from Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party, arguing it was an inappropriate time for him to go there after Honduras severed ties with Taipei in favor of Beijing.
